On Tuesday, November 5, get out and vote! Local elections are the most important elections you can vote in.

Why?

Because your voice is loudest at the local level. Yes, the people we elect to state and federal office help make decisions that will have a huge impact on our lives. But so do our local officials, and the power of our vote is far more amplified at the local level.

If every one of Bolton’s registered voters voted, we’d each have about a 1/3,300 (0.0003) share in electing the people who will determine the property taxes we pay, set the regulations that govern what we can do with your land, set the policies and curriculum for the schools our children attend, ensure we have clear, safe roads to drive on and well-maintained recreation facilities to help our families stay active and healthy, and who make decisions about so many other areas of our daily life.

In reality, turnout in Bolton for municipal elections tends to be around 45 percent, so each voter’s “share” is closer to 1/1,500 (0.0006).

Either way, our voice carries far more weight at the local level than it does in state or national elections, which are the ones people tend to turn out for.

For example, in 2018, 78.5 percent of Bolton voters cast a ballot, and 88 percent voted in the 2016 presidential election—almost double the typical turnout for municipal elections.

But if you voted in the 2018 2nd Congressional District race (Joe Courtney’s seat), you were one of about 300,000, so your share of the vote was 200 times less than your share of the municipal vote.

If you voted in the 2018 U.S. Senate race (Chris Murphy’s seat), you were one of nearly 1.39 million, so your share of the vote was nearly 1,000 times less than your share of the municipal vote.

In the last presidential election, you would have been one of an estimated 138.8 million, making your share of the vote nearly 100,000 times less than your share of the municipal vote.

Your vote literally counts more as elections get more local. Voting is your constitutional right. Don’t neglect it!